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Garden beds with drip irrigation. We water the garden correctly. Rules for watering the garden and summer cottages

The dacha and garden, instead of a place of relaxation, often become a place of exhausting work. Water, weed, loosen, water again, weed, loosen, and so on in a circle. At the same time, the harvest is not always pleasing. The situation can be changed. There is a special technology - a smart garden. The cultivated area is reduced significantly, the amount of water required for irrigation is reduced, and the yield increases. This is not a fairy tale. Many people have already switched to smart beds and they are all happy with the results.

What is a smart garden or smart beds

A smart garden allows you to obtain maximum yields with minimal labor costs. How? There are several basic rules and techniques: proper planning of plantings, rotation of planted plants, special growing technologies (in high beds, trenches), drip irrigation, mulching or the use of covering material. All this has been known for a long time and, probably, is already used by many. But it is precisely in combination that all these measures give what is called a “smart garden”. Because everything on the site is done wisely.

A smart vegetable garden is formed, often raised or high beds in which the necessary conditions for plant growth

The main task of this technology is to make sure that working in the dacha is not a burden. This is possible if you approach the organization of the process wisely. And it’s completely in vain that this technology is called “a garden for the lazy.” At the stage of arrangement you will have to work hard, but then everything will grow almost by itself, but the first stage requires hard efforts.

It’s worth starting with site planning. It is necessary to choose the location of the beds taking into account the lighting. Then develop a scheme for laying water pipes along the section and lay them. At the same time, you can build beds. Roughly in that order. All this requires time, significant effort and money. Material costs may not be too large.

Planning a vegetable garden

If you already have a summer house or a plot of land near your house, you have probably already encountered a situation of an overabundance of fruits, vegetables and berries. When the harvest has to be distributed to relatives, neighbors, and colleagues. But in order to grow it, a lot of effort had to be made. To avoid such a situation, it is necessary to plan the harvest. It’s clear that you won’t get great accuracy, but results close to the planned ones are possible.

A smart vegetable garden is also a decoration of the site

We count the area of ​​the beds

The first thing to do is sit down and think about what and how much you want to grow. The specific quantity is in kilograms. How much do you need to “eat” and “close”. Write a list of plants (in a column) and the desired harvest.

Having decided on the list of plants that you want to grow in your home, we sit down and look at the average yield that can be achieved when grown in smart beds. It is given in the table. Since you are still an inexperienced “lazy gardener”, reduce it by half. We put numbers next to each plant. It must be recorded in kilograms per square meter of area.

Now it’s easy to calculate how much area you need to allocate for each type of plant: divide the desired yield in kilograms by the average yield for each type of plant. We get the square footage for vegetables, berries, herbs, etc. If we add up all these areas, we will find out how many beds you need in total. These are the beds that should be placed on your site.

You're probably surprised by how little space you need for garden beds. And it's really not enough. Many times less than what we are used to! You will have very little land to cultivate. The vacated space can be taken under rockeries, and other decorations.

Where to place

When planning smart beds, you need to take into account the degree of illumination. Almost all the plants you need prefer sunny places. In partial shade you can grow rhubarb, sorrel, and onions (including feathers). Perhaps that's all. There are no garden plants that grow well in shaded areas. Or rather, they will grow, but the yield will decrease by 3-4 times. Shaded areas should be set aside as a recreation area or a flower bed with shade-loving plants should be placed there.

Another principle for placing beds: the more care (read watering) a crop requires, the closer to the entrance to the house it should be located:


Why arrange the plants this way? Because at the beginning of the watering/weeding work, gardeners are full of enthusiasm and the plants receive more water, weeds are removed more thoroughly. Gradually, the fervor subsides, less and less water is available per square area, and processing becomes less thorough. And with the approach proposed above, the amount of water will be “just right” and everything will be fine with soil cultivation.

Orientation to cardinal directions and precise location determination

If you want to get a harvest from the entire area of ​​the lazy bed, the location is north-south. Strictly. This is the only way the entire area will bear fruit. Also place trellises for climbing vegetables. Although, they can be planted along the southern and eastern walls of buildings.

For a smart garden to also be beautiful, you need to think about where to place the beds. To do this, take a scale plan of the site indicating the direction to north/south. On it we draw all the buildings and main paths, water supply ( Special attention pay attention to the position of the taps), trees and shrubs. On the plan we immediately outline the shadow zones - we will not place vegetables here, this is a place for flowers and fountains.

We cut out the beds from paper (on the same scale as the site plan). Moreover, we make them in the shape we plan: rectangle, square, circle, triangle, etc. The shape is selected based on the area planned for the crop. And it doesn’t have to be a boring rectangle. Since there will be enough free space (you remember that you need much less beds), rationalism fades into the background, and the main emphasis is on aesthetics. After all, few people work in their dachas “so that they have something to eat”; mostly it’s also a pleasure. And what could be more pleasant than the beauty of a cultivated plot?

So, we sign each piece of paper indicating a smart bed - we put the name of the crop or crops (you can grow two, three or more on one bed). Now we are looking for a place for each, taking into account the rules described above. Along the way, you can change the shape of smart beds: for the sake of beauty or convenience. When you have found the places, trace the contours and transfer the inscriptions. All that remains is to implement our plans.

Irrigation system

A significant part of gardening work is watering the plants. If you use lazy beds, you will have to water much less often. But even in this case, it is better to route the pipes around the area correctly. You already have a plan for the location of the beds in your garden. Now add flower beds, bushes and trees. Get a plan for the placement of plants that need to be watered. Now you should think about how to ensure that any “irrigation object” is no more than 2-3 meters away. If you do this, then you will have to pull a small hose to each bed, which is much simpler.

Homemade drip irrigation system made of polymer pipes, water source - barrel

It’s even better if a hose for drip irrigation is installed in the smart garden bed. This will reduce water consumption and increase yield. Yes, at the same time. A drip irrigation hose is a polyethylene tube with small holes through which water drips drop by drop. When planting, plants are planted next to the holes. As a result, water is supplied to the root, the plant receives a sufficient amount of moisture, and the spaces between plants remain only slightly moist (due to the redistribution of moisture in the soil).

When using drip irrigation, you will have very little work. You open the tap, wait a certain period of time, close the tap. All. Hoses for drip irrigation are available for connection to a water supply (sold by the meter), and are available in the form of kits with a small pump that will pump water from the container. The price range for hoses for drip irrigation is significant - prices differ significantly. No matter how limited your finances are, do not buy the cheapest hoses - they will last no more than one season. It’s better to pay a little more for a quality product and use it for several years. When choosing kits for drip irrigation, you must also consider the area to be irrigated. But, most likely, it will suit you, since lazy beds are rarely large. Read more about drip irrigation kits and manufacturers.

How to make smart/lazy beds

The principle of constructing smart/lazy beds is that you need to create ideal conditions for plant development and ease of processing for yourself. What do plants need? Nutrients, enough light, air, moisture and not a lot of weeds.

Oxygen and nutrients

We provided them with a sufficient amount of sun by arranging the beds from north to south. The next task is to provide nutrients and air to the roots. We lay all this when forming the beds. Depending on the type of soil, we select components that are missing in the “source material”. IN Middle lane In Russia, the main soils are clay and loam, so humus of varying degrees of “maturity” is usually added (one, two and three years). This is both for fertilizing and for lightening the soil - for better access of oxygen to the roots. Along with humus, bacteria and worms enter, which continue processing, enriching the soil and loosening it for you.

Productivity with square meter it will be wow...

If necessary, you can add other fertilizers - into the holes when planting or when watering. Depends on the crops or the richness/poorness of the source soils. The most common natural fertilizers are chicken manure and cow manure, and ash. If you apply only cow manure, mole crickets will annoy you. If you add a little chicken manure, there will be no mole crickets, and the soil composition will become richer.

Moisture retention and weed control

Some of the moisture will be supplied by rain and dew, and some will have to be added by irrigation. And so that less water is required, fill the entire space of the bed that is not filled with plants with mulch. Mulch, by the way, also reduces the number of weeds - there is not enough light for them under it.

Straw, mown grass, sawdust, fallen pine needles, and special mulch made from wood chips can be used as mulch. All this can be used to mulch lazy beds. But all materials are imperfect. Here are their advantages and disadvantages:


There is another good solution: cover smart/lazy beds with a special black covering material. They completely cover the surface of the beds, sometimes in two layers. Small holes are made under the plants. Watering is carried out directly on the material - it does not retain water and air, does not allow weeds to grow, and protects the soil from overheating. In general, it’s good for everyone, except that you have to buy it.

How to make them

We’ve sorted out the general principles of creating a smart vegetable garden, now let’s look specifically at how to make beds. You cannot walk on them, so they must be fenced - with stones, slate, iron, logs cut in half, boards... It doesn’t matter what, but the beds must be separated from the paths. And since you cannot step on the beds, their width should be such that you can freely cultivate the soil.

Now about the width of smart beds. It depends on the type: will they be of normal height or raised. If the beds are made at ground level, their width is 80-100 cm. You can work this width while squatting or bending over. If the beds are raised at least half a meter, it will be even more convenient to work. They make not only high beds. You can use all possible growing technologies:


Now let’s talk about whether regular height beds are better or raised ones. For a really lazy garden, raised ones are better: when cultivating the soil you will have to strain less. But it’s a troublesome and slow task. So, to begin with, you can acquire high beds only for the most difficult to maintain crops. You can also use various containers/containers - for herbs, salads, herbs. Large barrels and boxes sawn lengthwise are suitable. Available for sale plastic containers, which are produced specifically for smart gardening. They can generally be placed on paths, near the entrance to the house.

The only crop that should not be grown in raised beds is potatoes. It grows well in trenches, and making them is much easier and faster.

Between the beds

The beds in the smart garden are separated, the distance between them is at least 60 cm (preferably 90-100 cm or more). A significant gap that needs to be filled with something. Weeding between the beds is not the most best idea. Why then bother with separate beds in order to fight the weeds between them... Therefore, you can either lay out/pave or sow with lawn grass. The best grass for our lawn is bluegrass and bentgrass. They grow quickly, form dense greenery that does not get trampled and can even withstand cart handling.

The grass will need to be cut, so you will need a lawn mower or trimmer. And the cut grass can be used for mulch. Then, by the way, the weeds will come out - they cannot withstand frequent cutting.

Some tricks

The technology is called smart gardening for a reason. You can test different approaches, new products, and the experience of “colleagues.” There are several tricks that come with use. We have already talked about one - about covering material. It really makes maintenance a lot easier and there is no need for mulch. There are other interesting ideas:


Surely there are still tricks in processing a smart vegetable garden. If we find out about them, we will definitely update the article.

Eco-friendly estate: How I would like to admire the garden and vegetable garden and do nothing at the same time. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep a garden in order, but you are too lazy. In addition to laziness, many people simply do not have the opportunity or time to care for their garden. I want to come to the dacha and just relax, without watching how the area is overgrown like a wild forest. With such requests, we will create a vegetable garden for the lazy.

How I would like to admire the garden and vegetable garden and do nothing at the same time. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep a garden in order, but you are too lazy. In addition to laziness, many people simply do not have the opportunity or time to care for their garden.

I want to come to the dacha and just relax, without watching how the area is overgrown like a wild forest. With such requests, we will create a vegetable garden for the lazy.

Don't let weeds grow

Weeding is tedious and time consuming. Let's try to reduce it to a minimum. To prevent weeds from sprouting, the area can be covered with expanded clay, pebbles, gravel, marble chips, and bark.

In lawn flower arrangements they look beautiful and profitable. Rarely located alpine hills, lonely Japanese gardens and rockeries can do without bedding. In the garden, weeding can be significantly reduced by covering the free soil with mulch, for which mown grass, sawdust, and sand are suitable.

Lazy watering system

A garden for the lazy has its own watering system, which you should think about when planning before planting. It is necessary to carry out drainage, take into account the slope of the terrain, and take care of the drainage system. Stagnant water should not be in the garden.

For irrigation, an extensive network of hoses or metal pipes, buried in the ground and connected by tees, is used. True, such a system works provided that there is running water on the site. In hoses or pipes located in the ground, you must first drill or pierce holes in the locations of beds, flower beds, and lawns. Where water is needed, it will flow through these holes. This is the so-called drip irrigation.

A ready-made spray irrigation system is available for sale. This is a flat polyethylene hose with many microscopic holes. Water that flows from the holes under low pressure forms a fine drizzling stream. This system is simple and compact and can be installed within 3 minutes.

Homemade or purchased ready-made, the irrigation system evenly wets the soil. By equipping a garden for the lazy with such a watering system, you will free yourself from the tedious work of watering the beds yourself. If there is no running water on the site, then this system can operate from a container of water located at a height of 1.5-2 meters.

Drip spraying completely eliminates clogging with dirt, prevents diseases and increases the yield of vegetable crops. This is the perfect way to water your strawberries. Water does not penetrate deep and remains in the top root layer, the soil is saturated evenly. This method of watering, in addition to eliminating the need to personally water the beds, saves water consumption twice, and even more on sandy soils. From such a system you can spray against pests, or drip feed plants.

Selection of plants by shape

When planning a garden for the lazy, preference should be given to shrubs and trees. You can choose varieties of perennials that require virtually no care.

For example, you can plant rowan, shadberry, honeysuckle, quince, which, in addition to decorating the garden, will also bring a healthy, tasty harvest.

To preserve the beauty of the garden all year round, and not only in summer and spring, you can plant evergreens. Conifers include thujas, junipers, cypresses, pines, spruces, and fir. More southern deciduous plants include magnolia, rhododendrons, aucuba, holly and others. Shrubs and trees, unlike flowers, do not need to be replanted and divided every 2-3 years. This is also a noticeable saving of effort and time.

For the lazy, a garden should not be planted with lawn grass, which requires constant care; it is better to replace it with ground cover plants.

An ideal lawn is a clearing sown with young grass, sedum, arabis, saxifrage and other similar plants. Moorish lawn can also be a good alternative to a regular lawn. A clover lawn is unpretentious and looks very beautiful.

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You should not install flower beds, containers with flowers, or solitaire trees on a lazy lawn. They will create unnecessary obstacles for the lawnmower.

It is best to place plants in your climate zone. This step will fit well into the now popular concept of natural gardening. After all, heat-loving plants require shelter for the winter, pruning, and feeding with fertilizers. In addition, they may not be able to withstand the harsh Russian frosts. And all this work is no longer for the lazy. published

Very often, summer residents and homeowners create high beds, or so-called raised or mounded beds. Such beds are used not only for tall vegetable gardens, but also for bulk flower beds.

Raised beds are perfect for people with limited mobility, since the beds will not need to be dug up often; it is enough to periodically loosen the soil.

This “raised garden” has advantages and disadvantages.

Raised beds: pros and cons

behind

against

Safely grow vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs, etc. Protection from adverse conditions. Quick soil drying, regular watering.
It does not depend on damaged soil in the garden, since you can use healthy purchased soil. Frequent addition of additional mineral fertilizers.
2-3 times more yield than on conventional flat beds Semi-ripe organic matter resists seed production
Purchased soil will protect seedlings from rotting, weeds and various fungal diseases. The risk of unfavorable living creatures breeding in the soil
Convenience of harvesting, as well as digging, fertilizing, and weeding the garden. Restrictions on plant species planted
Favorable crop cultivation in the cold season. Frequent watering may cause water to stagnate.
Unusual and original decor of planted plants Material costs when creating beds
Saving area of ​​planted plants.
The design and shape of the bed can be different
Rapid warming of the soil, which allows plants to be planted earlier
Ease of assembly of low-growing plants
In spring, the snow melts quickly and the soil quickly warms up.
Optimal soil temperature
Good drainage, compacted soil

As we see, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Watering raised beds

Raised beds will have to be watered much more often than regular flat beds. This is due to the fact that the soil dries out very quickly, so care for such beds must be approached very carefully.

In high beds, the soil temperature is 10 degrees higher than in simple beds. What provides effective development root system, in addition, plants can be planted earlier than usual.

High beds made of bricks

The advantage of high beds made of brick is that such a design will be as reliable as possible. The method of laying a brick structure is carried out in the usual way: it is necessary to mark the required length and width of the bed and lay it with bricks.

A gardener who does not have sufficient skills in laying bricks runs the risk that the bed will have an untidy shape.

Raised beds photo

How to make raised beds correctly

Carefully approach the process of choosing the optimal height, length and width of the beds.

In the presence of good soil a bulk bed can be built 15 cm high, but if the bed is separated from the ground, then it is better to make it twice as high (approximately 30 cm), this height is optimal for garden plants. For warm compost beds, it is advisable to choose a height of 50 cm and above.

High beds are very convenient in summer cottages when there is no time to cold temperature constantly cover the beds. Thanks to the layer of compost, the plant roots will be completely safe from sudden frosts, and the bed will have an optimal temperature.

Many summer residents build beds at waist level for convenient harvesting. However, you should be careful when designing wide beds; in this case, if the height is high, it will be difficult to reach the middle of the bed.

By and large, the length does not matter, you can choose any one, the only limitation will be the length of the dacha plot itself. It is recommended to make the fencing reliable and stable, so long boards can be strengthened with vertical slats or posts.

Unlike length, the width of the bed is a serious parameter. Seedlings should be planted in two rows. For the bed, choose a width within 100 cm.

In fact, many plants are planted in high beds, but crops such as sunflowers and corn are not planted in high beds.

As available materials For fencing high beds, logs, boards, wicker barriers, brick, metal, plastic and slate are most often used. The durability and reliability of the fence depends on what material you choose.

So, let’s highlight the main stages of creating raised beds:

1. To create raised beds, select the required area (a place protected from the wind, preferably a sunny side) and clear it of debris and weeds.

2. Mark the territory. Calculate the height and width. The height is selected individually, and the width should be no more than 1 meter.

3. Gradually fill the bed. Lay out a layer of straw (or sawdust, grass, branches, etc.)

4. Build a wooden structure as a fence. It is useful to lay a metal mesh at the bottom, which will protect the seedlings from voles, moles and other harmful creatures.

5. The next layer is organic matter (compost), necessary to create soil nutrients. It is worth considering that after some time the soil will settle, so the layers should be repeated to the required height.

6. Make the top fertile layer of soil (presumably 10 cm)

7. Water the beds with water without mixing the laid out layers.

One of the difficulties that a gardener may encounter is creating the body and frame of the bed.

The bed can be protected from precipitation and other external factors using film.

It is not difficult to install racks at the ends of a high bed that will serve as support for a trellis if you need it for growing cucumbers, beans and other wicker plants. You can also attach a canopy to these stands to protect tomatoes, peppers and other plants from fog and rain.

Raised beds produce particularly good crops of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage, peppers, bush herbs and eggplant. It is important for the first 2 years not to plant seedlings that are capable of creating nitrates: Chinese cabbage, salads, radishes, etc.

Of course, the process of creating high beds requires considerable effort, but does not require special skill. Raised beds will allow you to open the gardening season, increase productivity and create gardening masterpieces.

There is always plenty of work to do on a summer cottage. The three main concerns of a summer resident - watering, loosening and weeding - take up a lot of time. Installing an automatic garden watering system will significantly reduce labor costs, save energy and allocate time for more important activities - replanting, pruning, harvesting and conservation.

Advantages and disadvantages of automatic watering

Installing such a system will not be difficult, and the gardener, in addition to saving time and effort, receives a lot of benefits. Automatic watering of the beds allows you to:

  1. Carry out regular watering in your absence. The owner of the plot can always go away for a long time and not worry that the plantings will dry out.
  2. Apply moisture directly to plant roots. This saves water and does not disturb the top layer of soil, as after regular watering with a watering can, therefore, you will have to loosen the bed less often.
  3. Add dissolved .
  4. Don’t worry about uneven watering, when parts of the plantings lack moisture, and some are flooded.
  5. Water in the dark. This is extremely convenient for those crops for which sprinkling irrigation is preferred, but it is not recommended to do this in the sun to avoid burns on the leaves.

Any automation has its drawbacks, which must be taken into account when planning a system for automatic watering of beds:

  • if you are away for a long time, it is difficult to establish a suitable automatic watering schedule, because periods of drought can be replaced by prolonged rains, and the weather forecast is not always correct;
  • in the event of an unscheduled power outage, the automation stops working;
  • installation of automatic watering of beds will cost more if water is taken from an open reservoir, or the operating pressure in the water supply does not correspond to the parameters of the automatic watering system.

In the latter case, you will have to install cleaning filters or optional equipment, which regulates water pressure.

Types of automatic watering systems

You can set up automatic watering for any plantings, be it beds, lawns or houseplants in pots. Only the scale of work and methods of water supply differ. There are three main automatic watering systems.

Sprinklers

Through special devices, water is sprayed over the surface, irrigating a certain area. Such systems are usually installed on lawns.

Drip irrigation

In this case, moisture is supplied to the roots of the plants and is not consumed over the entire area of ​​the bed or greenhouse. This method has four big advantages:

  • water is saved;
  • the top layer of soil is not disturbed, and you have to loosen it much less often;
  • Weed growth is significantly reduced;
  • the air remains dry.

Drip irrigation is necessary for greenhouses, since high humidity contributes to the spread of diseases in closed ground.

Underground automatic watering

Such systems are installed where large areas need to be irrigated, but sprinkling is difficult or impossible. Summer residents rarely use underground irrigation due to complex installation and expensive equipment.

Automatic lawn watering by sprinkling

Such systems are most often installed by owners of large lawns. With their help, a lot of effort and time are saved, and the installation of a sprinkler system is the least expensive and does not require fine tuning. Lawn grass easily tolerates a slight excess or lack of moisture and high air humidity. The minimum set of components for installing such a system includes only hoses, taps and sprinklers. When the tap in the water supply is opened, water is supplied through hoses to the sprinklers, and after some time it is turned off. This method is semi-automatic, as it only works in the presence of the owner. To carry out without human intervention, the installation is supplemented with the following components:

  • a pumping station that provides constant pressure;
  • water filters that purify water from foreign matter that can clog the sprinkler holes;
  • solenoid valves that regulate the water supply to individual sprinklers;
  • controllers that control the entire system according to a given algorithm.

If you are just planning to install a lawn, it is better to lay the hoses underground, leaving only the sprinklers on the surface.

A drawing is first made on which all elements of the system are transferred to scale and referenced to the area. Such a detailed drawing will allow you to quickly find a problem or lay additional underground communications, without affecting the already existing system of automatic watering of the beds.

All components of a sprinkler system can be purchased ready-made in specialized stores or assembled from individual spare parts yourself. The companies Gardena, Hunter, and Rain Bird are famous for their convenient and inexpensive sprinkler systems.

Drip irrigation device for garden beds

used wherever sprinkling is undesirable. Most garden crops cannot tolerate high air humidity. Thus, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, onions, and many flowers can develop fungal diseases. Therefore, the installation of a drip irrigation system is preferable for them. Another difficulty is that almost all of these plants need to be watered only with warm water, which means you will need a container of the appropriate volume. The barrel is installed at a height of at least 1 meter to create the required pressure.
The simplest drip irrigation system consists of:

  • containers;
  • tap;
  • water filter;
  • start-connector;
  • regular hose;
  • drip hose;
  • end plug.

Start connectors are needed to regulate the water supply to individual sections of the drip hose. With their help, you can increase or decrease the time of watering individual beds without turning off the common tap.

The system of automatic drip irrigation of beds can be supplemented with a pump that will pump water into the barrel and controllers that control the water supply automatically.

Automatic watering of a greenhouse with minimal water pressure - video

If you have summer cottage plot or keep your own garden, you have more than once encountered a situation in which planted vegetables grow and bear fruit poorly due to an excess of moisture or a lack of it. In summer, in the absence of rain, watering should be carried out daily, but in no case during the day under the scorching sun. Plants may burn out. The best time is in the evening, but it is not always possible to do this. Therefore, we suggest that you consider installing a drip irrigation system yourself. This will make it possible to provide constant and high-quality watering of plants, reduce water consumption, and also leave you free time to do other things.

Drip irrigation. Way of working and positive aspects

If you nevertheless decide to start building a drip irrigation system at home suburban area, then you must have patience and free time. No great skills are required. But first you need to know about the features of installing such a system. It represents:

  • a metal container containing water (if there is no running water);
  • pipes;
  • drip tapes;
  • filter;
  • droppers;
  • connecting fittings.

You need to know that the water tank rises to a height of 1 to 2.5 meters and is installed in a place where there is no direct sunlight. All other components of the system must be purchased at the retail outlet.

How does this system work? Water from the tank is passed through a filter and reaches a ribbon with droppers placed along the planted plants through the main pipe. Drip irrigation makes it possible to irrigate the soil in small portions, moisturizing the roots of plants.

Positive characteristics of such a system:

  • can be used for watering open ground, and in greenhouse structures;
  • designed for watering not only vegetables, but also trees, bushes, flower beds, green hedges;
  • helps save water, free time and effort;
  • due to the constant supply of water in small quantities, the plants do not flood or dry out, which helps to increase productivity;
  • this way you can introduce fertilizers or fertilizers without damaging the plants.

Benefits of using the system

Let's take a closer look at each advantage of the irrigation system.

  1. Air permeability and soil moisture. Due to the fact that the soil does not become waterlogged, the root system of plants is well ventilated throughout the entire development period. The root system receives a sufficient amount of soil oxygen, which subsequently achieves its maximum functioning.
  2. Development of the root system. This watering method encourages root development. Constant consumption of liquid by the plant contributes to the saturation of nutrients. Thus, such a system is 1.5 times higher in quality than the rain system, and the surface system – 18 times.
  3. Recharge. When applying liquid fertilizers, they directly enter the root system, which promotes nutrient saturation for maximum effect. This is especially important for areas with arid climates.
  4. Protects plants. Since irrigation goes exclusively to the root system, and not to the leaves, the likelihood of plant disease is reduced, because once the medicines get on the leaves, they are practically not washed off.
  5. Prevents soil erosion. This system can be installed not only on a flat surface, but also in areas with sharp slopes and changes. There is no need to level them or move soil.
  6. Water is saved significantly. Having this system will allow you to save water by an average of 70 percent. Because. Because the liquid goes directly to the roots, it hardly evaporates on hot summer days.
  7. Rate of maturation. If you use such a system, the soil temperature rises, which allows vegetables to grow and bear fruit faster.
  8. A lot of free time is freed up. Now you don’t have to spend the evenings after work watering your garden using a watering can. Save your strength and energy for communication with your family. And the falling pressure in the pipes will not have a significant impact on the quality of irrigation.
  9. You have the opportunity to cultivate the soil, spray the plants and pick ripe fruits whenever you want, regardless of watering, because, unlike a watering can, not all the soil gets wet, but only the roots of the plants.
  10. Improving soil quality. If the soil on your plot of land has a moderate salt content, then you can add a little salt to the water.

We irrigate the soil using a dripper

When we figured it all out positive points drip irrigation system, you can begin to install it. To do this, you will need hoses and medical droppers, which will be connected to each other using tees, plugs and other connections.

At the very beginning, we decide on a water source. No problem if the territory land plot a water supply is laid, then the hose is connected directly to it. If this is not possible, then we look for a secluded place to install a metal container or plastic barrel. Do not forget about raising it to a height of about two and a half meters so that the water flows into the system on its own. The supply hose may look like plastic pipes or rubber hoses, and not necessarily new ones.

Step-by-step instructions for installing a drip irrigation system

  1. First you need to lay out all the tubes parallel to the beds. As a rule, there are several beds, so we create a single system in the form of wiring, using tees.
  2. Plugs are installed at the ends of the hoses.
  3. Holes are made in the hose next to each watering item. This can be done using a regular awl or self-tapping screw.
  4. The resulting holes are equipped with a plastic dropper end. The dropper has a movable wheel, which regulates the amount of incoming water.

As for the use of this system when watering cucumbers, water should be supplied constantly, but only in small portions. But with regard to irrigating tomatoes, the intensity of watering should be greater, but not necessarily constant. This is all achieved by adjusting the drip irrigation system. This system will be more effective by mulching the ground near the plants with straw or peat mulch. This makes it possible to reduce the process of water evaporation and improve the hydration of the root system.

How to properly care for your drip irrigation system

If you have been using such a system for a long time, you have probably seen that it gradually becomes clogged, which negatively affects its performance. If your system begins to work poorly, then it is worth disassembling it and washing all its parts. But to avoid constant contamination, do not be greedy and equip the system with a high-quality filter.

Use of plastic bottles for drip irrigation

The most in a simple way on our own make a drip system - adapt plastic bottles that remain in every family. Especially if your garden is small. You can water several plants from one bottle, but this is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. If crops require a lot of moisture, then many holes are made in the container. Practice has shown that three liters of water can be used for irrigation for three days. If you cannot constantly monitor the amount of water remaining in the container, take a plastic bottle with a volume of 5 or 7 liters.

There are several ways to make an irrigation system using plastic bottles.

  1. We dig a bottle between the planted rows, poke holes in the sides with a small needle, the bottleneck protrudes above the surface of the soil for easy pouring of liquid. The lid is also pierced to force water out with air. The number of holes directly depends on the type of soil.
  2. Bottles can be hung over the beds. Supports are dug in on the sides, a beam is installed on them, from which bottles with a cut bottom are suspended. This method promotes rapid evaporation of water, but the temperature of the liquid will be higher than in the previous option. To regulate the flow of water, we pierce the neck with small holes.
  3. The system can also be mounted using a plastic container and a ceramic cone. The latter is put on the bottle neck and inserted into the ground. Cut off the bottom of the bottle and place it directly on the ground.
  4. Find a use for old hoses for this irrigation system. If the hoses have cracked, these places can be insulated. With this device, the hose should deliver water to the garden bed, and not under high pressure. At the very beginning, we lay out the hoses between the beds, then make holes in the right places. If the pipes are plastic, then heat the needle before making punctures.

Automatic watering method

What is this system? First of all, it provides high-quality and constant automatic irrigation of green plants, watering vegetable gardens and flower beds, flower beds and shrubs. Automatic or semi-automatic irrigation systems consist of a wide range of elements and materials that make it possible good watering both small plots (up to five acres) and very large ones, such as football fields, stadiums, parks, squares and others. The system is controlled using a controller - a so-called mini-computer, which independently regulates the optimal irrigation regime. The installed program makes it possible not only to take into account the configuration of the object being watered, but to independently determine the required amount of water that will be poured onto certain plants, depending on their needs. Basically, a wide variety of sensors are connected to the automatic irrigation system: they can regulate the humidity of the soil and air masses, and determine possible precipitation. Can be connected and miniature weather station. All these components will make it possible to minimize excess water consumption by almost half. But it must be remembered that such a system will not work unless significant money is spent on it. But it's worth it and you'll soon see it.